The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 305

abandoned of that Holy Spirit. Ilut there was ever a faithful remnant, ever a godly few, of whom the Lord was wont to say, "They shall be mine in that day when I make up my jewels." And we must remember that there were long periods iu Israel's history when, as a nation, they lived under the blessed guidance of that Spirit. 'l'hese more happy periods are passed over in silence, as all such in the records of nations are so that the saying has passed into a proverb, "Happy the nation that has no history.': It is of the sad, troubled times that history tells, not of the long, eventless, peaceful times. When at rest, they walk in the fear of the Lord, and possess the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and are multiplied. Oh the joy of this possession of his Spirit I The thought of losing it made the contrite psalmist cry out in his agony, "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.'' "I will put my Spirit within you" was ever one of the choicest promises of God to his people, and one of the surest tokens that they were his people. And it is so still. 'l'o be his is to be guided and governed of that good Spirit, to have our understandings purified, our affections wisely controlled, our hearts, our wills, under his direction always, so that we turn away from what is evil and cleave to that wbich is good. And it includes, furthermore, the being made the channels of his grace. Others shall be blessed through us, as it was said to Abraham, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." God's people are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. How unspeakably great and blessed is the influence of the true people of God[ In their presence impurity profanity, selfishness, sin in all its forms, hide their shameful heads and slink away: wbil8t all things lovely and of good report flock around them and attend upon them continually. And finally they become the inmates of the home of God. The heavenly inheritance, of which the earthly Canaan, the land promised to the fathers of Israel, was the type and symbol, becomes theirs. They enter it through the gates of death, and these gates once passed, they are in bis presence, where" there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand there is," etc. Such are some of the elements of this great joy of God taking us for his people, a joy ~hich, of his infinite mercy, may he make us ali to know. 2.. "I will be your God." This cannot mean less than that he will be known to them as their God. 'l'hey shall be able to realize his existence, his presence, his constant nearness to them. True, the God of Israel, whose promise this is, was not known by any organ of sense; he was no material God that their hands could handle; he spake with no human voice that their ears could hear; he appeared to them in no visible form that their eyes could see; he was manifested then, as now, only to their spirits. But when they worshipped him in spirit they felt that he was at their right hand, so that they could not be moved. Hence they went about their daily work and engaged in a.II the occupations of their lives, consciously realizing the presence of God; so that they constantly spoke of him as " their God," "our God," "my God,''-so near, so real, so present was he to them. 'l'hey could not if they would, and they would not if they could, escape from his presence or withdraw from the observation of his eye,or from the guidance and guardianship of his hand. In such manifestation of himself to them did he fulfil his word, "I will be your God." Nor was this all. Not only was be realized by them but rejoiced in. "I will go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy," was the delighted declaration of the saints of old and is so of the saints to-day. Such joy had they in him that, when all earthly affairs were disastrous for them, when the fig tree did not blossom, and when there was no fruit in the vine, and the labour of the olive failed, and the fields yielded no meat, when the flock was cut off from the fold and there were no herds in the stall,-when, that is, ruin stared them in the face and met them on every side, nevertheless they could rejoice in tho Lord, and joy in the God of their salvation. "My soul shall make her boast in tho Lord," was their perpetual song; and it is the song still of all those to wh~m Go~ has said, " I will be your God.'' And his word came truo yet further by their coming to reaemble him. It is ever the result of worship to conform the worshipper to the deity be worships. Hence it was said of the worshippers of idols, "They that make them are like unto them, so is every one that trusteth in them.'' Accordingly it has ever been found that they who bowed down to gods impure, cruel, and treacherous, became t_hem- selves impure, cruel, and treacherous. Ilut, on the other hand, they who h11;ve worshipped the God or Israel hani become like him-righteous, just, and true, merciful, and pure, and i:;ood. " I will be your God" meant, therefore. " I will mako you like myself," ou, x1. 1-23.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 305